Reactions By the Letter
by DragonAceSg7
Summary: This is a response fic to chartreuseian so very awesome An Alphabet of Love Letters. It will have Helen's reactions to the letters by each day. Won't make any sense without her beautiful fic.
1. Prolouge

**My apologies for all the updates to the same thing, FanFiction dot Net is not liking me today. This is a response fic to the wonderful An Alphabet of Love Letters by chartreuseian. Head over to her profile and you'll find a link to it. Didn't realize the filter stripped out most of the web addresses.  
**

* * *

Helen walked around the entire day with the note from Nikola in her pocket. By the time she made it to bed that night, sad that she had the bed all to herself, her mind had come up with so many guesses as to what those 26 other letters could possibly contain.

She had to admit, she'd not had such a hard time waiting for the morning since she was a girl on Christmas Eve. Those few hours in the dead of night, when the only sound was the crackling of the fireplace and her occasional giggle then sigh at the time dragging so very slowly.

She hugged the pillow that smelled the most like her Nikola's subtle cologne and just him and tried to get to sleep.


	2. A

Helen, who'd jumped out of bed and snatched the first letter from her desk so was still in her black and silver night gown, was almost stumped reading it.

"Far more tame than your first letter, lover," Helen whispered to herself.

Still, she smiled at the thought of her and Nikola conquering the new world. As she dressed for the day, in that dusty blue skirt and jacket that was so hard for Nikola to keep his long fingers off of when she wore it, she wondered what would have happened if he had asked her to say.

And, more importantly, what would have happened if she had said, "yes."


	3. B

Helen sat on the end of her bed. It was an hour before she normally would be up but one of the residents went into early labor and so she spent most of the night in the infirmary helping deliver triplets. She had never been so grateful for this abnormals lack of ability for verbalizing sounds because those babies were stubborn little balls of fluff and fangs and having all of them crying would have been a bit much.

So she'd decided that she could open the next letter a wee bit early.

She couldn't help biting her lip and giving a tiny moan at the memories this letter evoked, "that's more like it, Nikola," she whispered to herself. Yes, she would have let Nikola ravage her that day.

Come to think of it, she probably wouldn't have really minded giving him a taste for the other time he mentioned.

Oh sure, she would have protested a little but honestly, the thought of letting Nikola drinking her blood caused all sorts of fun sensations to course through her. What would letting Nikola have her blood feel like?

More importantly, what would it do to him?

Taking the letter she decided it was time for a hot bath.

And if she did a few things less than lady like... she'd blame it on the hormones she was exposed to during the night.

Yeah, that was it.


	4. C

Okay, taking this note to her office because she had such a godawful early meeting was a very, very big mistake.

Now Helen was trapped in her office, with somehow a foot-high stack of files to go through.

How did she have this many physical files? Didn't she digitize all of the every day papers?

She had a foot-high stack of files to go through, another meeting in an hour and she was supposed to have dinner with some of teh former house heads.

Right, monthly 'casual' staff meeting or soemthing.

Oh it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Ignoring the files for the moment Helen quickly logged into her computer and clicked over to the server that let her onto the world wide web without being connected to the Sanctuary's files. She'd left a few smaller accounts in tact for just this occasion since she couldn't exactly order a dress to 'Hollow Earth Sanctuary-several miles below the Earth's surface by a woman who to the surface was very dead.'

It took a bit of clicking and searching but she grinned as she found it. A crimson dress that was in the Victorian "style." Well, it sort of wasn't, a lot of it was rather inaccurate but when she wore it she doubt it would be on for very long she could ignore the fact it had a zipper.

She ended up being late to her meeting but the fact that she was able to order the dress and it would arrive a day before Nikola returned made it so worth it.


	5. D

Helen giggled to herself, oh she remembered that morning. She hadn't felt so free of everything in years as she had for those few moments.

She curled up under the covers, reliving the feeling of that chilly day. Nikola practically swinging her like a doll but with much more care. And she had entertained thoughts of using that damned table for kindling after that, it had been a most unpleasant interruption.

Reaching out to reset her alarm for a few extra minutes Helen hid in the pillows, fingers holding the note and imagined the sensation of Nikola whirling her around the floor.


	6. E

"You little brat," Helen muttered as she read today's letter.

Okay she was laughing too but still, "you knew those?"

And what was so sexy about her accent, it was how she'd always sounded. That still confused her.

And did she still struggle in Serbian? Helen tried a simple sentence out-loud and realized she was rather rusty.

With a smirk Helen decided, fine, she would teach Nikola how to dance, he would teach her how to speak Serbian.

Though she might suggest at least some of one or other of the lessons they are a little dressed.

Maybe.


	7. F

Helen was sitting at the desk in her bedroom as she read today's letter. She felt a wave of nostalgia hit her at the thought of the five of them together.

One can't ever go home again, she knew that literally now as well as figuratively, but sometimes she could close her eyes and just remember the five of them, working together, laughing, joking, teasing. John baiting James as they sipped brandies. Nikola and Nigel bickering without really fighting over anything and everything. James looking like everyone's big brother when they would get too rowdy.

Rowdy usually being someone removing a jacket or Helen taking some of the damned pins from her hair.

As sad as she was those times were gone, there were no tears today. She was enjoying the fact that Nikola cherished that time as much as she did, and had truly felt accepted, as she had, and as she'd hoped for him.

No tears today as she tucked the note with the other opened ones and rose to get showered and dressed. Just a sense of the past that was less weighty ghost and more treasured sensations.


	8. G

Helen remembered those gifts. She had wondered about the handkerchief before. It was touching that Nikola had kept it, that he still had it.

The dove...

Helen remembered when the white dove left Nikola. She knew for a fact he'd actually cried. When she came to him to help fake his death, she hadn't hated him, though she doubted she could really define everything. She was so damned closed off to everyone then.

Perhaps she should have stolen Nikola away to the Sanctuary...

Helen shook her head, she'd been doing a lot of 'what if' musings these last few days.

Despite the fact that her office was perfectly climate controlled Helen strolled in to get her work started with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders.


	9. H

It meant a lot to Helen that at her side was where Nikola always considered home to be.

When she tried to sleep that night, she kept staring at what had become his side of the bed.

In all the transitions and preparations, over the hundred plus years, she'd been wanting to go home too.

Helen grabbed her phone and went down the hall. She let herself into Nikola's room and slid under the covers of his bed. She was out in minutes.


	10. I

"Not afraid of you, Nikola," Helen whispered, "never of you. For you far too often, but I never once thought you would harm me."

In his darkest moments, Helen had cried, feared and begged but it was Nikola to gain peace for himself, not to take her from danger.

Helen paused before adding the note to the other opened ones, intending to keep them all.

Nine...

Nikola had been gone nine days.

1/3rd of the way done.

Despite missing Nikola terribly it was wonderful to once again measure their parting in days instead of years or worse, decades.


	11. J

"I never knew he'd done that," Helen whispered.

She loved James still, always would, though not in the same way she loved Nikola.

It wasn't any more or less, just rather different. Both were a mix of romantic and friendly love but where James was a source of stability, Nikola was a force of nature.

She would miss James.

She would crave Nikola, and no, not just for the physical, far from it.

No one ever made her so infuriated yet pleased in the exact same moment as Nikola had.

Helen couldn't speak to her deserving then, so much happened in what felt far too little time.

But Nikola's place was at her side. Maybe they could both just call it a draw and say they deserved one another for a change.

For as much as Nikola never thought he deserved Helen's love, Helen never thought she deserved his loyalty.

This note Helen tucked away in her pocket for the day.


	12. K

"Oh, Nikola, and what a kiss it will be," Helen mused to herself before heading to a rather long and boring meeting, his note tucked safely in her pocket.

And this turned out to be another unsmooth move as she spent most of the meeting thinking on all the kisses Nikola had mentioned along with the one she was waiting to give him.


	13. L

At first Helen had been confused.

Lock?

Not love, okay love wouldn't be something so obvious for Nikola.

But lock?

Not lips, or lingerie, or even lick?

Then Helen read the whole note.

"Oh," Helen giggled remembering trying to mentally make Nikola figure it out back then. Some nights she was so bored and wished he'd just sneak in to poke at her, even if it was just to update her on how his sick pigeon was doing.

Wait, if Nikola hadn't realized until much later, then;

"James Watson!" Helen giggled again. One of Helen's prized possessions, a first edition of a medical text from her father had vanished for exactly one month then returned with stains on it. James had said Nikola must have needed it for something when he must have snagged it.

"L is for liar," Helen giggled as this note she set with the others as she went to get dressed. Her smile making it very clear she was so not even remotely mad or even bugged.

Helen sighed as she dug in her closet and noticed one of her suit coats on the floor, "L is for Lazy, Nikola, really, you could have hung it back up."


	14. M

Helen couldn't help but feel herself blush as she read that. Of all the times she'd "accidentally" done something in Nikola's presence, she honestly had thought he'd been asleep at that very moment he was mentioning.

She couldn't help but to remember that particular night; the previous few days had been so exhausting and tedious and the night was refreshingly cool. Helen had been getting ready to have a bath when she instead turned and stepped outside, feeling the cold air on her heated skin soothing the harsher portions of her day away.

Looking back, it was very good Helen hadn't known Nikola could see her. She had little doubt that if she had known she'd have tossed a look over her shoulders to her Serbian friend that would have sent him scrambling over the railing attempting to bridge the gap between them.

Seeing as how he hadn't been a vampire yet, that could have ended poorly.

Most likely it would have ended with her pulling him into her room and instead of a hot bath before bed she'd have had a hot night.

And that would have made the wake-up call the following morning very awkward indeed.


	15. N

Helen groaned and pulled the covers up over her head.

Okay, now she really missed Nikola.

Yes, she'd been missing him this whole time.

Mentioning their morning cuddles, good Lord Nikola Tesla actually used the word cuddle? made her feel especially lonely.

Helen hid under her comforter and hugged Nikola's pillow tight. Squeezing her eyes shut she let herself imagine he'd somehow snuck back home into bed with her for just a few hours.

Will's knocking on her door an hour later wanting to know where she was was not a pleasant way to come out of that fantasy.


	16. O

**Okay my lovelies.**

**This is the last update today. I'll be all caught up.**

**Going to try and 1 for 1 the rest of the series.  
**

**Probably will not be writing something to go with the epilogue since this fic should sort of fit into chartreuseian's  
**

**but we'll see  
**

**Hope I can keep up with all the stuff you all have been liking.  
**

* * *

Helen had another confused look on her face. She'd guessed, and was kind of hoping, O would have been a little more exciting.

Orgasm was the first, second and fourth guess she'd made.

Why did she insist on getting the olives?

The olives from Nikola's drinks were different, they were a different kind, number one, and those were dipped in alcohol.

The ones on the pizza were certainly not.

The rest of Helen's day was spent trying to figure out why in the hell she kept ordering pizzas with olives on them along with trying to decide should she shoot Nikola if he laughed and what in the world Letter P would be.


	17. P

Helen giggled.

Nikola kept making her do that with his letters. Cheeky bastard that he was.

She giggled remembering that morning. There had been something about Nikola sitting there looking so perfectly dressed, not a hair out of place;

Of course then half the time he had that goo in his hair so it never was out of place. Ugh what a way to ruin an afternoon of his napping on her when she tried to play with his hair and got that STUFF on her fingers for her troubles.

He looked so damn picturesque and there were all those lovely white flowers about them.

It was the closest thing she could come to of splatting Nikola with a well formed snowball for the time of year it was.

Helen also remembered the look she'd had for a moment. If he'd listened to her the previous week and rid himself of that dreadful mustache she probably would have pinned him to the ground and made that a much, much more interesting morning.

As Helen headed to get ready for her day, still giggling, she very much hoped to have Nikola toss petals at her soon as he could.


	18. Q

"I what now?" Helen whispered at the letter, as if today it would actually respond.

Was quiverer a word? She was pretty sure it wasn't.

She had to really be missing Nikola, she was nit-picking his grammar, and not how she normally would either.

Helen had no idea she had so many subtle movements all the time. Figures Nikola of all people would notice and consider it endearing.

But then, it was how he saw her that was one of the biggest reasons she'd been in love with him for so long, even if she'd not really been able to admit it.

"How much more of the blood alphabet is there?" Helen muttered as she finished re-reading today's note for the 6th time.

Her fluttered state actually had her counting the sets of notes.

More than once because the first time the numbers didn't make sense.

"Sixteen, Seventeen," Helen sighed, of the notes with the alphabet she had opened 17 for the alphabet and then the first 1 made 18; she had 9 more to go.

"Well, at least the numbers are better," Helen pouted as she went to get ready for her day. It was still over a week until her Nikola was home.

She tried to cheer herself up with guessing what R would be.


	19. R

"Some days, Nikola, I think I'll fight you a lot less," Helen laughed softly as she laid back in bed.

Breaks.

She really needed more breaks from work.

Why was she realizing this when Nikola wasn't home?

Oh yes because him not being here meant he had her undivided attention where these notes were concerned.

For half a second she wondered if parting like this more often was good because they might communicate better.

This thought she instantly banished because being apart this much would make them both a bit loopy and besides, shouldn't they get better at communicating face to face?

Hopefully with their clothing intact.

Some of the time.


	20. S

Helen erupted into a rather large fit of giggles.

Ah yes, her first attempt at a snowman, made of mostly mud and Nikola's somehow beyond patient instructions.

It had been a rather warm winter, hence all the mud, and despite the biting wind, the ground had been rather squishy.

Yes, squishy is a technical term.

Helen had been determined to not let another winter go by without learning what she considered a valuable life skill and what better teacher than her best friend and confidant.

And the one who would do whatever she asked.

Helen tried to mostly use her powers for good.

Okay she tried to mostly use her powers for not bad. Things like getting Nikola to part with the last cookie or convincing him to leave his wine glass in her reach since it was so troublesome to get her own glass.

With a slightly sad sigh, Helen thought of the second snowman she'd ever made.

It had snowed and snowed and snowed for days at Old City and little Ashley was beyond stir crazy. In a fit of trying to keep her daughter from making poor Henry completely manic with her constant poking for something to do and a bit of Helen's own need to do SOMETHING, she'd bundled them both up and walked with Ashley to the side of the house that got the least of the massive snow.

Once Ashley had figured out how to move in the many layers she giggled and howled like a freed creature.

After the tenth trip back up the hill with mommy dragging her sled, Ashley decided she wanted to do something else.

Helen had knelt down and instructed Ashley they were going to build a snowman.

The look of slight confusion on her daughter's face because she thought they would need giant cookie cutters to make them like they made gingerbread men was absolutely priceless.

Without really realizing she had, Helen doodled a snowman family on the note.

A mommy snowman with straw hair, a daddy snowman with a top hat and a little snowman with a button nose.


	21. T

Helen shivered at the memory of that night. She never gave up on Nikola being able to pull through the madness but at the same time, she was terrified his body would give out before his mind would.

Helen knew of all the illnesses Nikola had as a child and had helped him through more than one fever, one of which he was so delirious he spoke to her in Serbian, thinking she was his mother.

She'd not know much of his mother tongue at the time but she knew enough to know he was apologizing for something that made him curl up into a tiny ball and cry.

Helen shook her head to come back to the present, well, the more present memory.

She hadn't been sure if Nikola could hear her anymore so thought this would be more helpful, and fight away the specter of death that kept wanting to slip into the room when she wasn't looking.

It was very good to know it had worked.


	22. U

Helen bit her lip trying to pin point when that was.

She realized she was a bit off kilter around Nikola a lot then.

Oh well, she giggled, he was the most fun to be tipsy around.

Her stocking clad knee had been an enemy?

That just made her giggle more.

"Consider it repayment for the fact you never caught me spying on you swimming, Nikola," Helen whispered to herself.


	23. V

Helen traced the V at the top of the letter with the tip of her finger absently as she read the letter a few times over.

She'd wanted Nikola to push his luck, oh she'd wanted that so very badly. She'd still been on an adrenaline high from the chase and the improper excitement from their sharing a bed.

The little twinges of lingering electricity made her skin dance and she wanted Nikola's hands to sooth the sensations.

And perhaps replace them.

She couldn't be sure, if that would have been the end of it there, though having him pursue her more directly after that was ever so much fun.

She'd shared a bed with Nikola in a much more innocent fashion before then, but this was the first she'd hoped, wanted him to do something.

Oh, not as one sided as perhaps you thought, Niko, but she still wouldn't change that night.


	24. W

**Sorry if this doesn't completely flow well.**

**I'm rather groggy from allergies and the meds to fight them.  
**

**Any mis-guess in interpretation is mine more than Helen's.  
**

* * *

Helen felt her insides warm and tingle at the memory of that winter, that night.

It was, without question, her favorite Christmas that did not involve any persons under the age of 13. Herself as a child and then when Ashley was little being the other half but that wasn't on her mind right now.

She'd been so damn glad Nikola hadn't left her alone that day, she wanted to give in rather than start because some days with how trapped in his own head Nikola got there was a good chance later he'd wonder the hell out of why it occurred.

That night, she knew for a fact that Nikola wanted to play and be adventurous, even before they'd drank their fill of brandy and spiced punch.

Helen in the here and now closed her eyes and brought her feet up on the chair to tuck herself against her knees.

It had felt so very wonderful that night. She became quite drunk off of Nikola's kisses and took great pleasure in moaning against his lips as her fingers slide through his fluffy hair.

She hadn't wanted that holiday to end. They dreamed and cuddled and planned and touched and just were together. The whole world be damned it was just them and what they felt.

Helen re-read the letter again, curious as to what exactly Nikola was referring to that was cliche and he couldn't wait for Spring.

Two thoughts entered her mind at once and both caused her to blush, giggle and hide agaisnt her knees all at once.

She had no way of knowing which one or if either were even right, but it kept a wistful look on her face for the entire day and left her mind wandering every chance it got.


	25. X

Helen dropped the letter into the 'read' pile after only one read today.

Chose Nikola to bring up something so frightening and dramatic after his reminder of romantic winters at home.

Still, she hadn't expected any less from her thorough vampire.

Those three days... she remembered Nikola muttering something about didn't the fictional son of God spend three days in hell? He wanted to know what they would receive if they were resurrected after.

Helen had taken it as his mind bringing up the least lust filled thought it could.

Though for half a second she couldn't help but wonder herself.

While the whole experience left her frightened and sick feeling, she'd also been proud of how much Nikola had fought the pheromones with her.

It could have been the perfect excuse, they weren't in their right minds, but the thought of taking Helen when either of them was less than fully themselves had sickened her friend and he fought, just as hard as she did.

It wasn't a time she wanted to remember often, but she would take with her through the day her love and pride of her vampire who didn't just want to bed her.


	26. Y

Helen clutched the note tight as she was hit with a sudden wave of sadness that threatened to spill from her crystal blue eyes down her cheeks.

The not knowing was the worst some days.

She'd not been able to check him over properly and while he could take a lot of injure to his body and survive, without medical care for the amount of blood she smelled she knew the odds were not in his favor.

It meant more than she could probably articulate that Nikola felt like this.

She knew they had bickered, a lot, but she'd always hoped it was more how Nikola and Nigel used to goad one another, at least eventually.

"Thank you," Helen whispered to her still absent vampire as she took a deep breath and set this letter down in the pile.


	27. Z

**This will be my last entry in this fic.**

**It was always my intention to have my stuff fit inside Chartreuseian's work.  
**

**I am so honored that she let me be her 'other half' for this.  
**

**It's been fun and thank you all so much for the reviews.  
**

* * *

Helen felt her eyes fill with the happiest of tears as she read today's letter.

"Curse you, Nikola," she whispered, unable to stop smiling, "you've made me cry how many times now?"

There was a time where the thought of trying to be married to anyone after the disaster that was her first engagement made her angry and upset, but not anymore.

She was almost annoyed that he wasn't here for her to answer to yet.

Reaching out she pulled open a drawer and plucked out a piece of stationary. She giggled a little when she saw her own initials, thinking of the handkerchief Nikola still had and how there was a chance those letters wouldn't be the same much longer. Though that was a consideration for another day.

Helen dug in another drawer for her favorite pen.

With a deep breath, then another to both stop crying and giggling, she then set pen to paper to write a letter of her own to her headstrong, frustrating, stubborn and most handsome, amazing vampire.


End file.
